Pressing one’s suit on someone is not using her as an ironing board. It is an expression about courtship and a proposal of marriage.

Are you courting?When I was in my early teens a great-uncle by marriage used to ask me this question. In the North of England it was still a current expression. In the South, where I lived it was more usual to ask whether someone had a boyfriend or was “going out with anyone”.

Billing and cooingis a phrase associated with a courting couple. They might belovey-dovey.

Something old,something new,
something borrowed,
something blue.

This rhyme describes items of clothing a bride wears according to tradition.

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Charity begins at home.Charity is an old-fashioned word for love. Perhaps the family is where love is first experienced. People often use this saying as an excuse for not giving to others.

Home sweet home reminds meof a sampler a neighbour had in her home. As far as I can remember the first two lines were “Wherever I wander, wherever I roam”. I can’t remember the third line. There’s no place like home was the final line, I think, although I may have muddled the whole rhyme. It could have been “I always come home”. Memory can play strange tricks.

Make yourself at homeis an invitation to a visitor to make themselves comfortable and not to stand on ceremony. See Friend or foe?

Absent friendsmay have a toast drunk to them.

A home from homeis somewhere so much time is spent that although not a real home it is almost one.

Home and drymeans having achieved one’s objective.

In many board games Home is the square where the game ends. Aman (ormen) is (are) moved round the board fromStart toHome. The winner is the player whose men arriveHomefirst.Ludo, Sorry and PM (Plus and Minus) are examples, although in PM , as far as I remember the home spaces are numbered rather than called home.

As safe as houses is a synonym. Houses keep us safe from the weather outside. They were not considered to be safe during bombing raids. During WW2 people had air-raid shelters and left their houses for safety there. Property has been a safe investment in the past, but with falling house prices leading to negative equity, this cannot be guaranteed.

Going all round the houses can describe a lengthy explanation or a complicated method of getting something done.

As deaf as a doorpost is a synonym. Why is alliteration so attractive?

Spick and span means neat and tidy. Alliteration again.

Raise the roofis a metaphor for making a lot of noise (usually with music).

Hit the roof means lose one’s temper.

Papering over the cracks is a metaphor (fora cover-up ?) disguising faults, rather than putting them right.

Everything bar the kitchen sinkis a description of a large amount of luggage. It implies that everything has been taken apart from the fixtures.

Moss doesn’t grow on a busy street.This is a proverb. Traffic and footsteps keep a busy street clear of moss.

Right up your streetmeans precisely the sort of thing you would enjoy.

The man in the street is often known as Joe Public.

Halt at major road aheadused to be the wording on the road sign, which is now an unusual shape (octagonal) and reads “Stop”. The reason for the shape is so that it can be recognised when the word is obscured by snow.